Jeremy Clarkson: Presenter said to be 'relaxed' about inquiry

Top Gear host is said to be “intensely relaxed” about the investigation into
his row with his colleague Oisin Tymon

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

6:00AM GMT 13 Mar 2015

Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, has hinted that Jeremy Clarkson and his alleged victim in the Top Gear “fracas” could be brought together by an internal inquiry to explain the incident that led to the presenter’s suspension.

Clarkson is said to have reported the incident to BBC management himself, and is “intensely relaxed” about the investigation into his row with his colleague Oisin Tymon.

He claims not to have punched Tymon, 36, and eyewitnesses have described a foul-mouthed tirade from Clarkson, who was held back by other crew members but indicated he did not hit the Top Gear producer.

Lord Hall has appointed Ken MacQuarrie, the head of BBC Scotland, to lead the investigation, which has already begun. A letter was sent to Clarkson yesterday summoning him to give his version of events.

But Lord Hall hinted that Clarkson and Tymon could be asked to discuss their differences man to man.

Speaking after a BBC digital event in London, he said: “We have got to get the people who are impacted by this together. We began that work yesterday.

“There is a lot of speculation, we have got to establish the facts and I intend to do that before we come to a final decision. That is what we are about to do. We have got to make sure we get all the key people together and find out what happened.”

Asked if Clarkson would be sacked if the panel found against him, he said: “I am not going to speculate. The first task is to get the facts and once you’ve got the facts then you can make decisions, but I need facts.”

Clarkson is reported to have told Danny Cohen, the BBC’s head of television, about the incident, which he has described to friends as “handbags and pushing”, after realising the Top Gear team were “unimpressed” with his behaviour.

A source said: “It shows that even he realised he had overstepped the mark.”

He apologised to staff at the hotel in Hawes, North Yorkshire, where the argument broke out.

Clarkson and his co-presenters arrived at the hotel at 10pm after a day’s filming,

and were told that the dinner service had finished and the chef had gone home.

Hotel staff, who had been told to expect the team at 8pm, offered them soup and cold meats, but Clarkson demanded steak and chips and allegedly blamed Tymon.

According to one report, the team would have been at the hotel at 8pm, but Clarkson, who arrived by helicopter, had kept the chopper waiting after he finished filming because he was drinking wine in a pub.

A family who witnessed the incident at the hotel said Mr Clarkson threatened to have his producer fired.

"He said he hadn't done his job properly, it was ridiculous that there was nothing to eat, obviously there was lots of expletives in between all this, and that he would be losing his job, he would see to it that he would lose his job," she said.

"But the fact that it was in a public place, I didn't want to listen to that language."

Her husband Bob, 60, asked for a picture with him, but the star replied: "No, not with the day I have had."

Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party leader, told The Telegraph that the 730,000 people who have signed an online petition calling for Clarkson’s reinstatement were wrong to rush to judgment.

Yesterday Clarkson changed his Twitter profile to say he was “probably” the presenter of Top Gear.